From Life Science/Tech Ideas to Profits

This meeting is co-sponsored by the IEEE Boston Consultants’ Network

Transforming ideas into profits is necessary to sustain a business, and the product development process is a critical component in transforming life science and tech ideas into profitable companies. The process is not always straightforward as marketplace demands, and other factors will shape the final product, but all of these are not known initially. The discovery process via research, trial and error, and important feedback from early adopters can be long, complex, and expensive, especially for an early-stage company that is bootstrapping or for any company with a short runway.

Tonight’s panelists are experts in the product development field with expertise and experience to ease this process for early-stage startups. The panel of experts consists of consultants who offer end-to-end product development services and those with specialized services, as well as entrepreneurs who have made products and turned their idea into profits. Panelists will cover prototyping, design, engineering, manufacturing, and marketing services everything you need to develop a new product and bring it to the market successfully. They will also share tips of what worked, what did not work, lessons learned, and common pitfalls to avoid in the product development process while converting ideas into marketable and successful products.

Agenda:

6:30-7:30 PM – Registration & networking

7:30-7:40 PM – ENET Chairman’s announcements

7:40-7:55 PM – eMinute – Up to 3 Startup companies’ presentations

7:55-8:45 PM – 3 expert speakers on the night’s topic

8:45-9:00 PM – Audience / Speakers Q & A

900-930 PM – Final networking includes meeting presenting speakers

A question and answer session follows the presentation, and panelists will be available afterward for responses to individual questions. You will also get the chance to network with the panelists and other meeting attendees, both before the start of the meeting and afterward.

Speakers:

Andrea Krajewska, Co-founder and CEO at Boston Embedded

Andrea Krajewska is an experienced Electrical and Computer Engineer who married her passion for System Dynamics and Engineering to bring a unique perspective to the complex, multidimensional problems inherent in the product design process. She has moved Boston Embedded (www.BostonEmbedded.com) from exclusively providing additional engineering resources, to an innovative device design firm specializing in firmware architecture, electronics, embedded product design, and project management. Her team at Boston Embedded has a track record of creating successful engineering teams and products within a multitude of industries including robotics, IoT, consumer, autonomous vehicles and space. Andrea holds a BS in Electrical and Computer Engineering and Minor in System Dynamics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Hari Chauhan, Ph.D., Venture Team|Analog Garage @Analog Devices Inc.

Hari is a technology specialist and business development associate with the Venture Team|Analog Garage, which is a corporate venture team of Analog Devices Inc. As a part of venture team, he leads projects in collaboration with startups to advance the product development for quick time to market.

Hari received a Master of Technology in VLSI Design from C-DAC India, as well as the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Northeastern University in 2011 and 2016, respectively.

Karim Azer, Head of the quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP) and DMPK modeling at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute

Karim’s work is focused on leveraging the spectrum of bioinformatics, systems biology, QSP and DMPK modeling approaches, and data analytics, to address translational medicine needs of the institute, in the areas of tuberculosis, malaria, diarrheal and enteric diseases, and maternal-neonatal health. Karim’s efforts are also dedicated to the development of supportive computational and mathematical approaches and pipelines to enable robust in-silico simulations and visualizations of models and model outputs. Karim received his Ph.D. in Applied Mathematics from the Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences at NYU and holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics from Courant Institute at NYU, and B.S. degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from Rutgers University. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over 20 years, employing a wide variety of modeling, both mechanistic and empirical, and computer science approach to address drug discovery and development questions in R&D. Previously at Sanofi, he formed and headed the quantitative systems pharmacology group, supporting programs across several disease areas, including immunology, rare diseases, cardiovascular and oncology. He also led the development of technical capabilities in support of model development, calibration, qualification, and simulation, in collaboration with academic partners and Institutes. Prior to Sanofi, he was at Merck, where he established a quantitative group spanning a broad range of computational approaches to drug discovery, development, and translational medicine, including both mechanistic and empirical models, image and signal processing, data analytics, and high-performance computing, and where he led modeling efforts in support of early clinical development and translational medicine  programs. He has served on a number of professional societies such as American College of Clinical Pharmacology (ACCP), American Society of Mechanical Engineering (ASME), IEEE, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), and International Society of Pharmacometrics (ISOP), and continues to be active in the community. He has publications in the areas of applied mathematics, modeling applications and methodologies in drug discovery and development, image and signal processing, and data analytics.

Tom Calef, VP, Engineering, Activ Surgical

Tom is a highly accomplished medical roboticist and seasoned leader of engineering teams capable of developing breakthrough innovation in surgical robotics. Tom holds multiple patents in robotics and surgical devices and has an extensive track record of taking surgical robotic platforms to market, having managed multiple surgical robotics products through 510k approval.

Currently, Tom is on the founding team of Activ Surgical, leveraging technology developed at Children’s National Medical Center in Washington DC to create the first machine learning engine for surgical robotics. Activ is delivering innovative real-time visualization and perception data to the surgical staff, enabling higher levels of confidence in even the most demanding procedures.  

Tom has a BS in Computer Engineering and an MS in Mechanical Engineering, both from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth. Tom has extensive student mentoring experience while mentoring a local high school FIRST robotics team for 20+ years. He enjoys ocean activities such as fishing and boating with his wife, Auna, and their three children.

Moderator:

Maureen Mansfield, ALM, CSO, MANSFIELD LAW ~Protect Your Passion~; Vice Chair, Boston Entrepreneurs’ Network (ENET) 

Maureen is passionate about protecting passions and implementing business development strategies to protect, build, and commercialize startups, inventions, and early and growth stage companies with MANSFIELD LAW ~Protect Your Passion~. 

She brings experience in entrepreneurship, strategy, business development, and contract compliance to entrepreneurs, inventors, and businesses that are building innovative products and services, inventions, and cutting-edge technologies. During her graduate studies, Maureen co-founded a startup that bootstrapped to a funding event. After sharing her story at Boston ENET’s event on bootstrapping, Maureen was asked to join as a volunteer and now serves a Vice Chair, Alliances. Maureen began her career as a TV reporter, her dream job, and has since worked for family-owned businesses to Fortune 50 companies on assignments in both the private and public sectors for projects of local, national, and international scope. She has helped many companies enjoy their most successful years in sales by initiating and developing new businesses, markets, and service models. This often involved innovating and implementing work processes and business analytics that built efficiencies while driving brand value and saving time and money for both the companies and clients, sometimes discovering fraud. Maureen co-founded two charities that continue today for an alumni group and a professional organization.

Maureen holds a BA in Journalism and Mass Communication and a BA in Communication Studies, Film and Video Broadcasting and Theatre Arts Tracks, both selective programs from The University of Iowa. She earned a Masters of Liberal Arts (ALM) in Management, emphasis in Finance and Control, with honors from Harvard University. Scholarships and Dean’s Lists enabled her to complete her degrees. Maureen also holds certificates in Project Management.

You can follow Maureen on Twitter @MaureenManALM.